Servicing wells

ABSTRACT

Workover operations are performed in wells having a curved circuit such as a submarine well having a radius bend at the wellhead by introducing into the conduit a segmented tubular member such as a tool and running the tubular member through said conduit solely by fluid pressure exerted thereagainst, a substantial portion of the length of the tubular member being maintained free of contact with the inner wall of the conduit to extend the life of the tubular member and reduce the pressure required to run it in.

United States Patent Bohlmann, Jr. et al.

[ 1 Apr. 25, 1972 SERVICING WELLS Willy F. Bohlmann, Jr., North Ridge,Calif.; Jerome D. Goodrich, Jr., Kenner, Ala.; Charles B. Corley, Jr.,Houston, Tex.

Assignee: Esso Production Research Company Filed: Dec. 11, 1968 Appl.No.: 794,464

Inventors:

Related 1.1.8. Application Data Division of Ser. No. 676,323, Oct. 18,1967.

U.S.Cl ..l66/77,285/l14,285/138, 285/226, 285/234, 285/235, 285/261 Int.Cl ..E2lb 33/03, F161 13/04 Field of Search ..285/114, 45, 133, 118,138,285/223, 226, 235, 236, 373, 419, 369, 234, 261; 166/77, 0.5, 0.6; 308/4A References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1915 Dodge ..285/261 10/1917Sheafe ..285/235 X NW3. W l

2,014,355 9/1935 Hussman..... 285/226 X 2,564,938 8/1951 Warren....285/261 X 2,669,429 2/1954 Zublin ..175/75 X 2,684,581 7/1954 Zublin..285/261 X 3,040,808 6/1962 Schramm et a1. ..166/77 X FOREIGN PATENTSOR APPLICATIONS 1,480,240 4/1967 France ..285/369 Primary ExaminerDaveW. Arola Attorney-Thomas B. McCulloch, Melvin F. Fincke, John S.Schneider, Sylvester W. Brock, Jr. and Kurt S. Myers Workover operationsare performed in wells having a curved circuit such as a submarine wellhaving a radius bend at the wellhead by introducing into the conduit asegmented tubular member such as a tool and running the tubular memberthrough said conduit solely by fluid pressure exerted thereagainst, asubstantial portion of the length of the tubular member being maintainedfree of contact with the inner wall of the conduit to extend the life ofthe tubular member and reduce the pressure required to run it in.

ABSTRACT 5 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures SERVICING WELLS CROSS-REFERENCE TORELATED APPLICATION This application is a division of Ser. No. 676,323,filed Oct. 18, 1967, for Willy F. Bohlmann, Jr., Jerome D. Goodrich, Jr.and Charles B. Corley, .Ir., entitled Servicing Wells."

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The presentinvention is directed to method and apparatus for servicing wells. Moreparticularly, the invention is concerned with the servicing of wellscompleted on water bottom. In its more specific aspects, the inventionis concerned with the servicing ofwells having a conduit which has atleast a portion ofits length describing a curve.

2. Description of the Prior Art It is known to run flexible tubularmembers into wells having a curved conduit. Flexible tubular members maykink or corkscrew in a well and present considerable problems in theiruse. It is also known to run substantially inflexible tubular membersinto such wells. However, when such is done, there is danger of thetubular member experiencing a considerable amount of friction drag whenit is caused to travel through curved pipes and the like. The presentinvention avoids such problems and presents only a small area forcontact with the inner wall ofthe curved pipe.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention is briefly described andsummarized as apparatus comprising a tubular member which is movablethrough a curved conduit leading into a well. The tubular membercomprises first and second elongated rigid pipe sections in whichcoupling means including means connecting the pipe sections for angularmovement of the first section relative to the second section is providedto form a continuous fluid passageway between the sections. The couplingmeans include means providing a surface adapted to contact the innerwall of the conduit and space the connecting means in the pipe sectionfrom the inner wall ofthe conduit. The tubular member is movable throughthe curved conduit free from any damage to the connecting means and thepipe sections by contact with the inner wall of the conduit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will be furtherdescribed and illustrated by reference to the drawing in which FIG. 1Ais a view of a cased well completed on water bottom having a pluralityof curved conduits leading therein;

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the well showing the interconnectedconduits or tubing strings and having an elongated tubular member runtherein;

FIG. 2 illustrates the elongated tubular member seated in one oftheconduits or tubing strings;

FIG. 3 shows the removal of the elongated tubular conduit;

FIG. 4 is a detail of the coupling and connecting means of the elongatedtubular conduit;

FIG. 5 is another embodiment of the coupling and connecting means;

FIG. 6 is a modification of the coupling and connecting means ofFIG. 5;and,

FIG. 7 is another coupling and connecting means in accordance with thepresent invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS RELATIVE TO THE DRAWINGSReferring now to the drawings and particularly to FIGS. IA to FIG. 3 inwhich identical numerals designate identical parts, numeral 11designates a body of water having a well 12 drilled from water bottom13. Arranged in the well 12 is a casing 14 which is cemented in placewith cement 15. The casing 14 is closed by a wellhead 16 from whichextends curved conduits or tubular members 17 and 18 which lead to watersurface or to the shore from whence fluids may be introduced into theconduits 17 or 18 or fluid discharged therefrom. Referring now to FIGS.1A-3, specifically, the casing 14 is cemented with cement 15 and thetubing 17 and 18 are shown as being interconnected by a passageway 23.The tubing 18 is provided with a polished bore nipple 19 and a landingnipple 20. Introduced down the tubing 18 from water surface (such as aplatform or vessel) or the shore (not shown) is a segmented, elongatedtubular member 21 comprised of rigid pipe sections 22 interconnected bycoupling members 24.

In FIG. 1 the elongated tubular member 21 is shown in the running inposition with fluid flowing down through the conduit 18. In FIG. 2, theelongated tubular member 21 is shown in position in the polished borenipple 19 and the landing nipple 20. In this position, the elongatedtubular member may be used for conducting squeezing, cementing,acidizing and other oil or gas field operations such as work-overoperations including removing sand and the like. Thus, these operationsmay be conducted by flowing fluid down through the tubing or conduit 18and through the elongated tubular member 21. As shown in FIG. 2, thepassageway 23 is sealed off by sealing means carried by the elongatedtubular member 21.

Referring now to FIG. 2, when it is desired to remove the elongatedtubular member 21, the perforations 25 in the lower end of the conduitor tubing 17 may be closed by depositing in the conduit 17 an aciddissolvable material which suitably may be particles of calciumcarbonate. The calcium carbonate may be in a finely divided form suchthat it will impede flow through the perforations 25 sufficient to allowfluid to be flowed down through the tubing 17 through the passageway 23and against the elongated tubular member 21. In the instance of FIGS. 2and 3, a body 26, which suitably is particulate, of an acid dissolvablematerial such as particles of calcium carbonate, aluminum, and the likeis deposited in the tubular member 17. Thereafter fluid is floweddownwardly through the tubing 17 and upwardly in the tubing 18 against asuitable pulling tool 27 which latches to the tubular member 21. Thetubular member 21 is then released from the polished bore nipple 19 andlanding nipple 20 and then proceeds upwardly to the surface of the wateror to shore through the tubing or conduit 18.

In the mode described with respect to FIGS. lA-3, the elongated tubularmember 21 is placed and removed solely by the use of pressure appliedthrough the conduits l7 and 18.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a coupling member 24 is provided with a knucklejoint 30 having a threaded pipe stub 31 adapted to connect to rigid pipesections such as 22. The knuckle joint 30 encloses a connecting means 32which is sealed by sealing member 33 to prevent discharge of fluid. Theconnecting means 32 has a pipe stub 34 which is adapted to connect tothe rigid pipe sections 22. The stub 34 is arranged to move through anopening 35 and the knuckle joint 30 which allows relative movement ofthe pipe sections 22 with respect to each other.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a coupling member such as 24 is comprised of aconnecting means 40 which suitably may be a hose material which may beconstructed of a deformable material such as synthetic rubber and thelike or which may be a metallic hose. In any event, the connecting means40 is connected such as by threaded means 41 to rigid pipe sections 22.The coupling means 24 is suitably an outer coupling acting as a tensionor compression member by bearing on spaced apart shoulders 42, 43, 44and 45. The coupling means 24 is suitably a cylindrical member closed oneach end by a plate member 46 having axial openings 47 on each endthereof through which the rigid pipe sections 22 extend. By virtue ofthe shoulders 42, 43, 44, and 45 and the hose 40 relative movement isprovided between the rigid pipe sections 22.

A modification of FIG. 5 is shown in FIG. 6 wherein the hose 40 isreplaced by a metal bellows 50. Otherwise, FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 5.

In FIG. 7, the rigid pipe sections 22 are interconnected by a steelinsert 60 which extends into the ends ofthe pipe sections 22. The steelinsert has a shoulder 61 on one end and a shoulder 62 on the other end.These shoulders 61 and 62 are sealed respectively by a sealing means 63and 64 with the inner wall of the rigid pipe sections 22. Internal stopsor shoulders 64 and 65 limit the relative movement of the insert 60.Compressible packing means 66 and 67 are arranged between the shoulders61 and 62 and the inner walls of the rigid pipe sections 22. in thisembodiment, it will be seen that rigid pipe sections 22 have an inwardlydirected shoulder 68 and axial opening 69 through which the steel insertextends. Wear surfaces such as shoulders 70 and 71 are provided toprotect the pipe sections 22. Thus, in the embodiment of FIGS. 5,6 and7, the rigid pipe sections have relative movement but yet the rigid pipesections are protected and spaced from contact with the inner wall ofthe tubular members such as 17 and 18.

The present invention is quite important and useful and in fact has beenused successfully. A flexible tubing extension constructed in accordancewith the present invention considerably reduces the friction drag intraversing a 5 foot radius bend in contrast to a continuously flexibletubing extension such as a metal or deformable hose. in one operation,50 feet ofa segmented aluminum tubing extension in accordance with thepresent invention was run in a well and encountered no difficulty due tofriction drag. When a continuously flexible aluminum tubing extensionmember was run, excessive wear on the continuously flexible tubingextension member resulted. In other words, the present invention allowsa well to be serviced with a segmented tubular extension member withoutencountering the difficulties heretofore encountered such as excessivewear due to excessive friction. Heretofore, excessive forces wererequired to run such continuously flexible members.

The present invention is quite important and useful in that the flexiblesegmented tubular member avoids all the difflculties heretoforeencountered with'flexible or convoluted pipe.

The present invention avoids excessive wear and friction and provides anew method and apparatus which overcomes the difficulties of the priorart.

The present invention is quite useful in underwater operations where aplurality of tubing strings is required. One tubing string is used forconducting well operations whereas the other tubing string is employedfor servicing operations so that there is a circulatory path for fluid.The present invention allows such well operations to be conducted byfluid pressure and avoids the use of wirelines heretofore necessary.

The nature and objects of the present invention having been completelydescribed and illustrated and the best mode and embodiment thereofcontemplated set forth what we wish to claim as new and useful andsecure by Letters Patent is:

1. Apparatus which comprises:

a. a conduit leading into a well, said conduit having at least onecurved portion along its length;

b. a tubular member arranged in and movable through said conduit intosaid well;

c. said tubular member comprising:

i first and second elongated rigid pipe sections; and

2. coupling means including means connecting said pipe sections forangular movement of the first section relative to the second section toform a continuous fluid passageway therebetween and also including anouter portion having a width greater than the outer diameter of saidconduit to space said connecting means and said pipe sections from theinner wall of said conduit;

whereby said tubularmember is movable through said conduit free of anydamage to said connecting means and said pipe sections by contact withthe inner wall of said conduit.

2. A tubular member in accordance with claim 1 in which the couplingmeans comprises knuckle joint means provided with sealing means.

3. A tubular member in accordance with claim 1 in which the couplingmeans includes a flexible member.

4. A tubular member 1n accordance with claim 3 in which the flexiblemember is a hose.

5. A tubular member in accordance with claim 3 in which the couplingmeans includes a cylindrical member having plate members closing eachend of said cylindrical member,

1. Apparatus which comprises: a. a conduit leading into a well, saidconduit having at least one curved portion along its length; b. atubular member arranged in and movable through said conduit into saidwell; c. said tubular member comprising:
 1. first and second elongatedrigid pipe sections; and
 2. coupling means including means connectingsaid pipe sections for angular movement of the first section relative tothe second section to form a continuous fluid passageway therebetweenand also including an outer portion having a width greater than theouter diameter of said conduit to space said connecting means and saidpipe sections from the inner wall of said conduit; whereby said tubularmember is movable through said conduit free of any damage to saidconnecting means and said pipe sections by contact with the inner wallof said conduit.
 2. coupling means including means connecting said pipesections for angular movement of the first section relative to thesecond section to form a continuous fluid passageway therebetween andalso including an outer portion having a width greater than the outerdiameter of said conduit to space said connecting means and said pipesections from the inner wall of said conduit; whereby said tubularmember is movable through said conduit free of any damage to saidconnecting means and said pipe sections by contact with the inner wallof said conduit.
 2. A tubular member in accordance with claim 1 in whichthe coupling means comprises knuckle joint means provided with sealingmeans.
 3. A tubular member in accordance with claim 1 in which thecoupling means includes a flexible member.
 4. A tubular member inaccordance with claim 3 in which the flexible member is a hose.
 5. Atubular member in accordance with claim 3 in which the coupling meansincludes a cylindrical member having plate members closing each end ofsaid cylindrical member, said plate members each having an axial openingthrough which one of said pipe sections movingly extends, saidcylindrical member being maintained on said tubular member by spacedapart shoulders on said pipe sections arranged above and below saidplate members.